Spinning toy



Jan. 21, 1969 s. P. VORVES 3,422,568

SPINNING TOY Filed Oct. 17. 1966 INVENTOR.

Steve R Von/e5 BY M4 so/v, 557715, 5070954058 United States Patent 3Claims This invention relates to a toy or amusement device, and moreparticularly to a tethered aerial toy of the spinning type.

It is a major object of the invention to provide an aerial toy oramusement device of simple and inexpensive construction and which may beeasily operated by a young child.

The foregoing, and other objects, are achieved in a toy in which a smallbattery powered electric motor is suspended from the end of a Wand-likerod, the motor being controlled by a battery and switch combinationmounted on the handle end of the rod. A curved disc member is mountedupon the rotor of the motor, and when driven in rotation the disc willtilt and assume various angles upon movement of the wand by the user.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent byreference to the following specification and to the drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective sectional view showing details of the disc,motor and a portion of the motor suspension; and

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of one 'form of the invention.

Referring first to FIGURE 2, one form of the invention is disclosed asincluding a rod-like wand designated generally having a handle 12 at oneend and an elongate rod 14 suspended from its other end for pivotalmovement about a horizontal axis as by a pivot pin 16. A rotating discassembly designated generally 18 is mounted at the lower end of rod 14by structure shown in greater detail in FIGURE 1.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, disc assembly 18 includes a concave discmember 20 having a central hub portion '22 projecting from the concaveor lower side of disc 20. In the form of invention shown in thedrawings, hub 22 and disc 20 are integrally joined to each other by anannular stepped shoulder 24 which forms a recess in the upper side ofdisc 20 into which is snapped or force fitted a cap member 26. Theintegral disc and hub 20, 22 and cap 26 are preferably formed from arelatively light weight plastic material.

Disc assembly 1 8 is suspended from the lower end of rod 14 by an eyelet28 fixed to the lower end of the rod which in turn is coupled to one ofa pair of link members 30. The other of link members 30 is passedthrough a bail 32 which is pivotally connected to the stator 34 of asmall, battery powered electric motor. The rotor shaft 36 of the motoris in turn fixedly secured to the central portion of hub portion 22, hubportion 22 and cap 26 substantially completely enclosing the motor andsuspension links 30. An opening 38 is provided in cap 26 which freelyclears the disc suspension to afford substantially free and unrestrictedtilting of disc assembly 18 relative to rod 14.

The batteries which power motor 34 are mounted in a battery casing 40which in turn is fixedly supported upon wand 10 adjacent handle 12. Acontrol switch 42 is mounted upon the battery casing to selectivelyelectrically connect Or disconnect the motor from the batteries whichare carried within casing 40. A pair of electrical leads 44 areconnected from switch 42 to motor 34. These leads may either be lightlytwisted around wand 10 and rod 3,422,568 Patented Jan. 21, 1969 member 14 as shown or, alternatively, the wand and rod member may be hollow andthe leads passed through their interior.,If desired, switch 42 may be athree-position switch having an off position and opposed reverseconnections so that the direction of rotation of rotor shaft 36 may bereversed if desired.

Because rod 14 is suspended from the end of wand 10 for free pivotalmovement about pivot 16, its normal position is truly vertical. To tiltrod member 14 upwardly from the vertical, a lever 46 is pivotallymounted adjacent the end of wand 10 by a pivot 48 and is provided with afork element 50 at its lower end, rod 14 passing between the legs ofelement 50. Lever 46 is projected upwardly above pivot 48 and a string52 is attached to the upper end of lever 46. String 52 extends alongwand 10 and may pass through one or more guides 54. A ring 56 isattached to the other end of string 52 adjacent handle 12 so that aperson holding the toy by handle 12 can slip one finger through ring 56.Upon pulling upon ring 56, lever 46 is pivoted about its pivot 58 andfork element 50 will thus force rod member 14 from the vertical positionshown in full line in FIGURE 2 to an inclined position, such as thatindicated in broken line in FIGURE 2. Upon the release of tension fromstring 52, rod member 14 will gravitationally return to its originalvertical position.

When the toy is held generally in the position shown in FIGURE 2 and themotor energized to drive disc assembly 18 in rotation, disc 18 willrotate in the indicated full line position of FIGURE 2 as long as thewand is held stationary. Upon movement of the wand in a horizontaldirection, the disc will tilt from its horizontal position in adirection dependent upon the driection of movement of the wand. Byincreasing or decreasing the speed of movement of the wand, the amountof tilting of the disc can be varied. By swinging rod member 14 aboutits pivot 16, the tilting effect can further be varied at will and asecond tilting effect at right angles to the tilting elfect produced byhorizontal movement can be achieved by varying the speed of pivotalmovement of rod member 14 about pivot 16. Tilting movement of the discrelative to the lower end of rod member 14 is accommodated by the linkconnection.

The link connection employs, as illustrated, elongate links so that,upon energization of the motor, the counter torque exerted on the motorstator will rotate the links about the axis of rod 14 until the linksbegin to bind against each other, eyelet 28 and bail 32, thus resistingthe counter torque applied to stator 34. With the connecting arrangementas shown, the necessary counter torque can be applied to stator 34,while at the same time permitting the flexibility of connection topermit substantially unrestricted tilting movement of the axis ofrotation gt the disc relative to the longitudinal axis of rod memer 14.

While one embodiment of the invention has been described in detail, itwill be apparent to those skilled in the art that the disclosedembodiment may be modified. Therefore, the foregoing description is tobe considered exemplary, rather than limiting, and the true scope of theinvention is that defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A spinning toy comprising a wand having a handle at one end and anelectric motor suspended from its other end, said motor having a statorcoupled to one end of said wand and a rotor, electric power meansmounted on said wand adjacent said handle, switch means electricallycoupling said power means to said motor means and operable toselectively energize said motor means, a rod member pivotally coupled atone end to said other end of said Wand, link means coupled at the otherend of said rod member and to the stator of said motor means forresisting counterrotation of said stator during operation of said motormeans while accommodating substantially unrestricted swinging movementof said motor means on said other end of said rod member and an annulardisc member fixedly secured to said rotor for rotation therewith.

2. A toy as defined in claim 1 wherein said rod member is pivotallycoupled to said wand for pivotal movement about a horizontal axiswhereby said rod member is normally disposed in a vertical positon, andmeans for swinging said rod member about said horizontal axis toselected positions of vertical inclination.

3. A toy as defined in claim 1 wherein said disc mem- 4/ 1962 Crawford46-243 1/1964 Bennett 46243 10 LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner.

R. F. CUTTING, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R.

ber includes a hollow annular hub portion surrounding 15 4 74

1. A SPINNING TOY COMPRISING A WAND HAVING A HANDLE AT ONE END AND ANELECTRIC MOTOR SUSPENDED FROM ITS OTHER END, SAID MOTOR HAVING A STATORCOUPLED TO ONE END OF SAID WAND AND A ROTOR, ELECTRIC POWER MEANSMOUNTED ON SAID WAND ADJACENT SAID HANDLE, SWITCH MEANS ELECTRICALLYCOUPLING SAID POWER MEANS TO SAID MOTOR MEANS AND OPERABLE TOSELECTIVELY ENERGIZE SAID MOTOR MEANS, A ROD MEMBER PIVOTALLY COUPLED ATONE END TO SAID OTHER END OF SAID WAND, LINK MEANS COUPLED AT THE OTHEREND OF SAID ROD MEMBER AND TO THE STATOR OF SAID MOTOR MEANS FORRESISTING COUNTERROTATION OF SAID STATOR DURING OPERATION OF SAID MOTORMEANS WHILE ACCOMMODATIG SUBSTANTIALLY UNRESTRICTED SWINGING MOVEMENT OFSAID MOTOR MEANS ON SAID OTHER END OF SAID ROD MEMBER AND AN ANNULARDISC MEMBER FIXEDLY SECURED TO SAID ROTOR FOR ROTATION THEREWITH.